This article focuses on self-collected sexual assault kits—sometimes known as “do-it-yourself” or “DIY” kits— that are self-administered post-assault and involve the collection and preservation of evidence from the body in a non-medical setting. It examines the rationale behind self-collected kits for victims of sexual violence who state that they want to address their trauma outside the healthcare and criminal justice systems; the challenges self-collected kits present for prosecutors; and the limitations of self-collected kits to provide critical victim care, treatment, and support traditionally provided through the sexual assault medical forensic exam (SAMFE) process. The authors discuss the available alternatives for those circumstances in which self-collected kits may be perceived to be the best available option. Finally, where self-collected kits have been used, the authors offer strategies to mitigate the evidentiary, advocacy, and legal challenges they present. SIB38_Jan22
Intimate Partner Violence Foundations: Not Just a Box to Check: Building Trust and Rapport
This webinar is part of a 10-episode podcast-style series focused on the foundational elements of prosecuting intimate partner violence cases (IPV). In each episode, AEquitas Attorney Advisor Jane Anderson engages in conversations with other AEquitas staff, former prosecutors with years of experience prosecuting IPV.
In this episode, Jane and Attorney Advisor Patti Powers discuss how to assess victims’ needs and provide meaningful access to appropriate services, communicate effectively with victims at all stages of a case, and improve victim disclosures. They highlight what building trust and rapport with victims may look like, challenges prosecutors may face when establishing relationships with victims, and strategies to overcome these challenges.
At the conclusion of this presentation, viewers will be better able to:
- Build trust and rapport with victims;
- Enhance prosecutions through improved victim disclosures; and
- Demonstrate that the criminal justice system is a safe place for victims
Additional resources related to this episode:
- Integrating a Trauma-Informed Response in Violence Against Women and Human Trafficking Prosecutions by Viktoria Kristiansson, AEquitas Attorney Advisor Emeritus, and Charlene Whitman-Barr, AEquitas Senior Associate Attorney Emeritus
Intimate Partner Violence Foundations: Collaboration is Key: Working with Victim Service Professionals
This webinar is part of a 10-episode podcast-style series focused on the foundational elements of prosecuting intimate partner violence cases (IPV). In each episode, AEquitas Attorney Advisor Jane Anderson engages in conversations with other AEquitas staff, former prosecutors with years of experience prosecuting IPV.
In this episode, Jane and Attorney Advisor Patti Powers discuss the importance of working closely with victim service professionals in intimate partner violence cases. They explore how prosecutors and victim service professionals can work collaboratively to ease common tension points while protecting victim privacy and ensuring that survivors have meaningful access to services.
At the conclusion of this presentation, viewers will be better able to:
- Identify opportunities to enhance collaboration;
- Communicate to build trust between victim services professionals and prosecutors; and
- Leverage collaborative relationships to enhance victim safety and participation.
Additional resources related to this episode:
- Presence of Victim Advocate During Sexual Assault Exam: Summary of State Laws by Charlene Whitman-Barr, Senior Associate Attorney Advisor Emeritus
- A Prosecutor’s Reference: Medical Evidence and the Role of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners in Cases Involving Adult Victims by Jenifer Markowitz
Intimate Partner Violence Foundations: Recognizing and Minimizing Barriers to Justice
This webinar is part of a 10-episode podcast-style series focused on the foundational elements of prosecuting intimate partner violence cases (IPV). In each episode, AEquitas Attorney Advisor Jane Anderson engages in conversations with other AEquitas staff, former prosecutors with years of experience prosecuting IPV.
In this episode, Jane and Attorney Advisor Patti Powers discuss strategies for holding offenders accountable while prioritizing victims’ safety, privacy, and autonomy. The discussion highlights the different types of trauma a victim may experience, how an offender’s use of power and control can affect a victim’s ability to participate in the criminal justice process, methods for increasing victim participation, and strategies for holding the offender accountable when the victim is unable to participate.
At the conclusion of this presentation, viewers will be better able to:
- Identify how offenders inflict and compound trauma;
- Maximize victim participation by minimizing barriers; and
- Balance offender accountability with being victim-centered.
Additional resources related to this episode:
- Legal Jiu-Jitsu for Prosecutors in Intimate Partner Violence Cases: Forfeiture by Wrongdoing by Teresa M. Garvey, AEquitas Attorney Advisor Emeritus
- The Prosecutor’s Resource of Forfeiture by Wrongdoing by AEquitas
Intimate Partner Violence Foundations: The Power and Control Wheel: Spoke by Spoke
This webinar is part of a 10-episode podcast-style series focused on the foundational elements of prosecuting intimate partner violence cases (IPV). In each episode, AEquitas Attorney Advisor Jane Anderson engages in conversations with other AEquitas staff, former prosecutors with years of experience prosecuting IPV.
In this episode, Jane and Attorney Advisor John Wilkinson discuss common dynamics of power in control in cases of intimate partner violence. John and Jane break down each spoke of the Power and Control Wheel to highlight how an understanding of these dynamics can guide victim interviews, support bail arguments, provide context for 404(b) motions, and help explain victim responses to juries.
At the conclusion of this episode, viewers will be better able to:
• Use the Power and Control Wheel to identify offender tactics;
• Present evidence of offender tactics; and
• Collaborate with allied professionals to develop appropriate safety plans.
Additional resources related to this episode:
- Video of co-creator, Ellen Pence discussing how the Power and Control Wheel was developed developed
- Additional versions of the wheel:
- Power and Control Wheel in Spanish – https://www.theduluthmodel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Poder-y-Control.pdf
- Power and Control Wheel for immigrant victims – https://s3.amazonaws.com/fwvcorp/wp-content/uploads/20160121105935/Power-control-wheel-eng-4-w-description.pdf
- Power and Control Wheel for LGBTQ+ individuals- http://www.ncdsv.org/images/TCFV_glbt_wheel.pdf
- Deaf Power & Control Wheel – http://www.deaf-hope.org/domestic-violence/power-and-control-wheel/
- Power and Control Wheel for Digital Abuse, created by Carrie Goldberg, Esq. https://www.cagoldberglaw.com/power-control-wheel/
The Sasha Center Model: Black Women’s Triangulation of Rape – http://sashacenter.org
Coercive ‘Love’: The Intersection between Intimate Partner Violence and Human Trafficking
Human traffickers control their victims through force, fraud, and coercion. In the case of intimate partner sex trafficking, these methods of control are uniquely manipulative and difficult to identify. Understanding the historical and circumstantial factors that lead to vulnerabilities exploited by traffickers in these relationships allows law enforcement and prosecutors to more successfully address and minimize harm to victims while effectively investigating and prosecuting human trafficking cases.
This presentation describes how, in addition to violence and threats, traffickers exploit feelings of love and loyalty to maintain power over their victims and perpetrate sex trafficking and related crimes. The presenters discuss the importance of identifying victims of intimate partner human trafficking to ensure victim safety and provide access to services and support, while at the same time articulating offender conduct to ensure they are held accountable for their actions.
First, Do No Harm: Facilitating a Trauma-Informed Response
Trauma is a direct result of the abuse and exploitation that offenders inflict on victims of intimate partner violence and sexual assault. This acute trauma, often compounded with historical trauma, impacts survivor’s ability to fully participate in the criminal justice process. As a result, a collaborative, trauma-informed response that takes historical context into consideration is essential to ensuring survivor access to justice while improving community safety.
This presentation describes various forms of trauma that victims may experience throughout their lives and as a result of an offender’s victimization. Presenters define cultural humility as a key element of a successful trauma-informed response that improves our individual, collective, and systematic responses to survivors. Additionally, the presenters provide strategies to identify, document, and introduce evidence of trauma to improve case outcomes and community safety by holding offenders accountable.
At the conclusion of this training, participants will be better able to:
• Identify signs and symptoms of trauma, and implement trauma-informed practices
• Enhance victim safety, privacy, autonomy, and participation through collaboration with allied professionals
• Practice cultural humility while preparing cases to proceed, regardless of a victim’s ability to participate in the process
Forced Criminality: Understanding Human Trafficking Through the Lens of Utah’s Victor Rax Case
As human trafficking awareness has risen across the United States and the globe, there are still blind spots that prevent law enforcement from recognizing the exploitation of the most vulnerable people in the their communities. To bridge this disconnect, law enforcement must learn to see abusive and exploitative circumstances through a human trafficking lens, even if those circumstances do not match how movies, television shows, or even well-meaning awareness campaigns portray human trafficking within the United States. The reality of human trafficking is that it most commonly involves an offender who positions themselves as trustworthy and then identifies, recruits, and exploits vulnerable individuals to turn a profit. These same tactics used to identify, recruit,, and coerce victims are also designed to allow the trafficker to escape accountability. However, as Utah’s case against the prolific trafficker Victor Rax illustrates, when law enforcement, prosecutors, and victim service professionals collaborate, human trafficking in all its forms can be identified, offenders can be arrested and charged, and victims can be supported to start rebuilding their lives.Forced Criminality Through the Lens of the Victor Rax Case
Confronting Racial Bias Against Black and African American Victims in the Prosecution of Sexual Violence, Domestic Violence, Stalking, and Human Trafficking
The history of racial discrimination against Black Americans in the United States created structural barriers and inequalities that Black women continue to face as victims of sexual violence, intimate partner violence, stalking, and human trafficking.. The article offers examples of how racial bias has shaped the criminal justice response to these crimes and provides prosecutors with tangible tools for eradicating biases against Black victims. Confronting-Racial-Bias-Against-Black-and-African-American-Victims
Just Exits: Achieving Justice: The Prosecutor’s Role
The criminal justice system can serve as both an on-ramp to and an off-ramp from sex trafficking and exploitation. As gatekeepers within the criminal justice system, prosecutors are uniquely positioned to identify sexually exploited women and girls, make fair charging decisions, facilitate criminal record relief, and link survivors with services and support. In these ways, prosecutors can clear the way to a different life path and achieve justice for survivors.
The presenters bring their lived and professional experience to this presentation, which emphasizes prosecutors’ duties to achieve justice over convictions and to proactively remedy wrongful convictions. Presenters discuss strategies for engaging survivors, avoiding wrongful criminalization, and providing access to just criminal record relief.
